Blood and Steel: Prologue (Halo Reach)
by Razordraac
Summary: Reach has fallen. His team is gone. He is vastly outnumbered. On a embattled and dying planet, Jun struggles to survive.


Four bullets.

Jun eyed the ammo counter in the top right of his visor's head-up display, the four cool-blue dashes blinking twice to red every second like a sign of danger. This was his last magazine.

"Fuck...", he uttered quietly, bringing his eyes back to the reticle in the centre of his rifle's smart-linked scope.

It was ridiculous how many rounds he had gotten through the last half-hour. Just to his right a growing pile of empty cases lay; their contents all expended over the course of mere minutes. There were just too many of the bastards to put down, especially since they decided to send four fully-loaded Phantoms this way. The worst part, and Jun knew it, was that at least one of them would have relayed the message back to the top brass that there was a military presence here. If the rest of this battered planet could tell you anything, it was that pissing off the big fish was not the most efficient survival tactic. The Spartan sighed and pushed the heavy rifle back into his shoulder, a magnified stare once again scanning the area.

A few seconds later, a small purple glint emerged from the side of the canyon. Jun quickly jerked the reticle onto it, his finger resting ever so gently on the trigger. He squinted his eyes to get a better view; the object in question was exceedingly small. It was purple, very reflective and shaped much like an oblong, moving up and down every now and then. He simply couldn't be sure at this range but it looked like a... plasma pistol? Grunts then; no big deal. He relaxed and waited for the rest to peek out.

Very slowly, the object moved further into view. Then an arm. A head. Jun held his breath quickly. Less than a second later, a loud crack reverberated down the canyon and echoed several times as the stumpy alien was thrown off his feet by the momentum of the 12.7mm round. Another one down and one less in the mag. Keeping his eyes pinned on the area, he rested the rifle on the rocky ledge in front and moved his right hand off the grip and to his thigh. He still had his Magnum, fully loaded and handy. Good. Anymore than three of these buggers and he'd need it fast.

Suddenly a large white figure jumped out from behind the cliff face, taking Jun by surprise.

"Shit!" he gasped, rapidly bringing his hand back up to the grip of his rifle and hastily aiming at the tall figure staring right at him.

Fucking Elite! There was no time to think as he quickly pulled the trigger and waited for the bullet to hit its mark. The split second of anticipation was shattered as a small spray of sand kicked up just beyond the Elite's head. Almost before he had time to curse, Jun's gaze was abruptly averted to the long blue weapon slung in its arms as it aimed around in shock. He recognised it immediately; a focus rifle. Bad news.

As he hurriedly jumped to his feet a beam of superhot plasma struck his rifle and sent him tumbling backwards down the sandy bank. Heart thumping hard in his chest, he wiped the sand off his armour and got back up only to find his rifle had a hole blown right through the middle, molten steel illuminating the rim. Once again he did not have time to vent frustration as he instinctively dropped it and vigoruously pulled his sidearm from its holster on his thigh. Readying it up to firing stance, he quickly glanced at the ammo counter on his HUD again to be sure. Full mag. Thank God!

Knowing his adversary would be approaching him, he quickly rolled out of cover and onto the canyon's floor aiming the reticle forward and straight at the incoming figure with the speed and dexterity of an eagle. The Elite had only just begun to react before Jun had twitched the trigger and pounded several volleys of lead into its abdomen. Its shields momentarily flared with a bright blue glow before collapsing and sparking throughout its armour. Jun pulled the trigger one more time, feeling a quiet click and quickly let the now empty magazine slide out, quickly grabbing a new one from his utility belt and slamming it home. The alien was still completely startled by the fast cacaphony of events, only having the chance to stumble around in confusion as another flurry of bullets flew into its metallic armour and flesh in equal measures. It coughed, spluttered blood, then fell backwards and was still.

Jun took a deep breath for the first time and lowered his weapon, eyes still staring forward for any sign of more. He looked at the fallen focus rifle, now half buried in the sand next to the corpse of the Elite and then back at his perch, his rifle still glowing from when the plasma beam scored it. Fuck. He was gonna miss the old guy. Sighing again, he stepped forward in slight fatigue. He was about to pick up the Elite's rifle when his energy shields immediately flared up, his head-up display flickering as he once again came under fire. What now?!


End file.
